Outerwear and Underwear of the ages

You see many different changes underwear has gone through from loin clothes to chemises. In the early 13th to 15th Centuries chemises protected the clothing from the grimey bodies of the person wearing it. Hey, back then hygiene was what we know it as now.

By the start of the16 th century Spanish fashions influenced Italian and English ladies. An iron hinged armour like corset was worn to flatten the body giving a smooth outline beneath gowns. The iron corset must have been exceptionally uncomfortable and heavy to wear and could only have been worn by Elizabethan ladies not doing any form of heavy work.Corsets of the late 16 th century would be more recognizable to us today than the iron version. These later corsets incorporated materials such as whalebone, bone, wood and flexible steel. The patterns on the corsets showed the placement of the chosen support and were elongated after a trend set by the boyish figure of Queen Elizabeth I.

It wasn't until the late 16th Century did it catch on to the "lower classes", due to the fact that the iron was too much to wear. (and you thought maiden form was restrictive). Until then they used basic chemise and corsets for wear.. to use petty coats and corsets with more flexible materials was much more practical. I guess they figured wearing underwear helped with handling the: lice, fleas, thrush, etc.

The early underware looks like something out of a S&M magazine. But of course the fashions and ideas of decorum were elaborate back then.

Some women would palmade thier pubic hair and put tiny bows around the curls.

In the 17 th century clothes were softer and more flowing. The heavy iron corset which flattened rather than shaped, gave way to corsetry that emphasised the waist and full skirts.

The women of Georgian high society looked beautiful in their satins and silks, but they hardly ever bathed. Sanitation was still quite crude and they preferred to douse their clothes, their bodies and their belongings in toilet waters and perfumes. They wore scented pomanders and carried small scent bottles about their person. They had false teeth, false hair, false bosoms, false calves and induced large eyes which they made to falsely dilate by using Belladonna extracted from the Deadly Nightshade plant. They were a walking deception.

Earlier in the 1600s, patches had been used to cover smallpox scars and the fashion lasted well into the 18th Century. The patches were small plain dots of black taffeta or velvet and the shapes developed into various symbols such as stars and moons. These were then gummed to the scars.

But after 1760 the demand for false hair in reached a climax. The fashion for French hairstyles grew as fast as the size of the enormous styles. It took hours to dress the hair so high and women expected the style to last for a minimum of a week, preferably longer. Since hygiene was poor, lice in the hair and persistent headaches caused by the dragging weight, became an acceptable fact of life.

Women often slept sitting up to keep the style in place and scratched their itching scalps using the misnamed long handled backscratchers of today. These were carved from ivory or made of silver or combinations of Mother of Pearl.

Hair was initially built up over horsehair and wool padded frames beginning with the natural hair. Then vast amounts of false hair was added, sometimes building the hair up to reach

Women had to be careful in ballrooms not to get their hairstyle caught in the candlelit chandeliers. More than one head of hair went up in flames and the roof of 's Cathedral in had to be raised four feet in 1776 so that the gentry could enter without mishap to their coiffures.

These flamboyant hairstyles were often topped by scenes depicting farmyards or ships or floral and jewel ornamentation. Frequently they were finished off with lavish wide brimmed hats later known as Gainsborough hats.

It took a year of not wearing a corset for the insides to resettle into normal placing.

Now days we have choices:

X.

Of the thank goodness for cotton undies and no wedgies class

Xandria

Thank you Cassi and Hamas:

Personally I am glad underwear has evolved! Now if a few people, I have personally known would get the other going~ instead of practicing like they were in the 15th,16th and 17th Centuries!

hardly ever bathed. Sanitation was still quite crude and they preferred to douse their clothes, their bodies and their belongings in toilet waters and perfumes.

X

Xandria

CG,

What are your questions ?

One place I read in the 13 and 14th Century they would wear long john type underwear and would only take that off for a yearly bath. Ewwww. Anyway, then I also read during research that some women bled into their chemises with later the formation of pads for that "time". These pads were washed and re-used, the late 1800's is when sponges and other items were developed for use. Early "tampons" were sponges. Sponges were used also as a birth control form too, soaked in vinegar.

All this of course is interesting and I wonder if that is how certain diseases florished even to the modern days.

X

Outerwear and Underwear of the ages

Share this